Ordinary Parental Leave

Eligible employees may take 18 weeks’ unpaid leave in total for each child up until the child’s 18th birthday.

This is subject to the following provisions:

Leave must be taken in blocks or multiples of one week (except for parents of children with disabilities who may take leave in blocks or multiples of one day. For the purposes of ordinary parental leave, a child with a disability is one for whom disability living allowance has been awarded.)

In all cases a maximum of 4 weeks' ordinary parental leave in a year can be taken in respect of an individual child

21 days' notice must be given

The Head of Department can postpone the leave for up to 6 months where the business would be particularly disrupted if leave were taken at the time requested, except when the employee gives notice to take parental leave immediately after the time the child is born or is placed with the family for adoption.

Ordinary parental leave following maternity/adoption leave

When ordinary parental leave follows maternity or adoption leave the general rule is that an employee is entitled to return to the same job they had before the leave. If at the end of maternity or adoption leave, this would not have been reasonably practicable, and it is still not reasonably practicable at the end of ordinary parental leave, they are entitled to return to a similar job which has the same or better status, terms and conditions as the old job.

Return to work

At the end of ordinary parental leave an employee is guaranteed the right to return to the same job as before, provided that the leave was for a period of 4 weeks or less. If the leave was for a longer period, the employee is entitled to return to the same job, or, if that is not reasonably practicable, a similar job which has the same or better status, terms and conditions as the old job.

Non-return to work

If an employee is unable to return to work at the end of their ordinary parental leave because they are medically unfit, they should report their sickness absence and submit medical certification in the usual way. They will transfer from parental leave to sick leave. Subsequently, normal sickness procedures will be followed.

If an employee does not return to work following a period of ordinary parental leave for a reason other than sickness absence (or other authorised leave), their job remains open and they do not automatically lose their right to return. However, their absence will be treated as unauthorised absence under the University's disciplinary policies for that category of staff.

Other family-friendly policies

Emergency leave: all employees have a statutory right to short periods of unpaid leave in order to make arrangements to deal with family emergencies. In addition to this statutory provision Heads of Department have discretion to grant compassionate leave where circumstances justify so doing.